Free Beneath the Skin: de La Vega Cats, Book 3 by Lauren Dane Page A

werewolves to fly commercial? They said they’re worried about any lunar stuff affecting their pilots even though of course that’s not how it works. Lots of ignorance out there right now. How do you think they’re going to feel about a jaguar-shifter pilot once we come out? Hm?”
    “Those two airlines are stupid. As your father and I have discussed. Anyway, they’re not the only airlines and you can do other sorts of flying. You can still fly helicopters and small planes. You have options, Mia. Don’t let this attack mess with your head this way.”
    Mia blew out a breath. All of that was true. Shifters were often very good pilots because of their keen sight and senses and their excellent hand-eye coordination. But many didn’t go into careers as pilots for various reasons.
    “I’m trying. I have to get through the last bit of the physical therapy first. I’ve got a week or two of that left, and then it’ll go down to only needing it once a week or so. Though I’ll continue to work out with Rich. Whatever I do, if I keep on top of this damage, the doctor said there’s every reason to believe I’ll get at least eighty percent of my original strength back.”
    Maybe by the time that happened she’d be able to accept she’d never be a hundred percent ever again.
    Her mother’s mouth flattened. “This is wrong, Mia. These thugs attacked you because of what you are. This is a hate crime. They need to be punished.”
    She nodded. “They should be, yes. But you heard the Alpha down in LA, he doesn’t want to come out yet. There’s all this other stuff with the witches going on now. He doesn’t want to agitate matters.”
    “So they’ll do nothing. Some alpha he is. None of them seems to give a tinker’s damn what happens to their cats. Whatever is the point of belonging to a jamboree if they don’t do anything for you?”
    “They’re not all that way.”
    It wasn’t as outlandish to think so now. Gibson might be a de La Vega, but he’d done nothing but be protective of her since the first day they’d met. Albeit that was only a little over a week ago, but he hadn’t tried to blow her off. And Max had called her about the gunshot to thank her for yet again putting herself in the service of the jamboree. He’d been pretty cool about it, even apologized for the way he’d asked if she was behind the shooting that first night.
    “I will find the people who did this to me. And I’ll take care of them.”
    She kept her mother’s gaze for long moments, waiting to see any disappointment or anger and saw nothing but resolve. “You will.”
    And that was that.
    And she still needed to figure out what to do with her future.
     
     
    “Max, this is Bob Whitford from the Smithville Jamboree.”
    Max looked across his desk to Gibson before he answered. “Hello, Bob. You’re on speaker with me. Gibson is here with Galen.”
    “Good, it’s best they all hear as well. We’ve censured and removed Bertram as Alpha of the jamboree. I’m taking over.”
    Max’s brows rose but he kept his composure. “Mind sharing with us what exactly happened? I assume this is about the attack on my Bringer and one of my cats?”
    “Yes. Hal Pepper, his girlfriend Margret, the female with him, Bertram and two others have been removed from the ranks of the jamboree. Once you’re done with Hal, if you decide to let him live, we’d like you to send him back our way. Margret is here, and if you like, you can question her, or we can turn her over to your custody. We don’t want a war with de La Vega.”
    Of course they didn’t. Gibson knew that. They were a strong jamboree. Stable, even with the betrayal of his brother Carlos. And now it was also well known that they had two witches in the jamboree. It added to the sense that they were not to be messed with.
    “What’s the motivation? Pepper continues to insist he acted on his own. We can execute him. After all, he did attempt to murder one of our cats in her place of